The last morning, Jeff and Todd cooked a breakfast of hash browns, scrambled eggs, cheese and the remaining sausages. The eggs had been cracked and stored in a bottle before the trip then frozen solid once on the trail. The warmer temperatures brought some snowfall during the final leg to the trailhead.
Two-wheel drive! 
After returning to Wintergreen Lodge we said goodbye to our dogs and unloaded the sleds and equipment. We drove into town and checked into the Adventure Inn, our favorite place to stay in Ely. That evening we met our guides and fellow team members in the city park down by Shagawa Lake. Normally the post-trip farewell dinner would be a fine affair in the Wintergreen Lodge but during the pandemic we settled for pizza in the park … and that was OK.
As follow-up, our friends at Wintergreen Lodge shared this fun footnote to our story:
While we were on trail, Homeland Security became curious about the dog truck & trailer we left at the Angleworm Trailhead parking lot – they’re not used to seeing dog teams in that area & they assumed we were up to some no-good nefarious mischief. So they made plans & secured Washington DC permission to track us on snowmobiles to see what we were smuggling into Canada. Fortunately, wiser minds prevailed and Forest Service staff talked them down from this plan – they assured the boys with the black helicopters that it was just Wintergreen out there screwing around.
Poor Homeland Security… Desperate for something to do up here and their one big winter adventure plan gets scuttled by the pesky Forest Service!
Journeys with Jeff and Ellen 